Canyoneering around Robbers Roost, North Fork Robbers Roost, Not Mindbender, and Alcatraz: Ethan and Jim.
Camping off Utah 25 the first night
Light on the reef that morning
Hiking in to North Fork Robbers Roost (NFRR)
Flowers in the streambed leading to NFRR
Jim coiling the rope after the first rappel into NFRR
A classic cairn-for-an-anchor rappel
Jim backs his way down yet another rappel in NFRR
and he just keeps going, you could easily scramble down the rest, but as long as the rope was set up...
Stemming high, love that fish-eye
And another rappel. I think this one could be downclimbed by traversing to the right (left LDC) along ledges, then climbing down the crack on the right side of this picture.
coiling again
Hiking out. The crack exit from NFRR was interesting, you get to do another small slot canyon to get out.
Just enjoying the sun and being back up top. We don't realize yet just how long a hike we have to make back to the car (trudgeing through loose sand the entire way).
loose sand and other obstacles that is.
loose sand
We finally made it back to the car and drove over to the exit for tomorrows canyon. This is a gorgeous campsite at the end of the Mindbender and Not Mindbender road.
Entering "Not Mindbender", so called because it was once mistaken for the next canyon over called Mindbender.
Lots of fun narrows in Not Mindbender
Is that a look of fear or excitement?
Deeper we go!
Wet feet too! Most of the canyons were bone-dry, but there were a few ankle deep pools hidden in the depths of Not Mindbender.
Pretty canyon that.
More and more downclimbing.
Just look at that gorgeous mug, he even managed to get his arms out of the picture this time (which is really hard to do with a 10.5mm lens)
The exit rappel from Not Mindbender is not quite as mindbending as that of Mindbender, but it is fun none the less.
~90 feet of free hanging rappel on a 8mm rope.
Kids, don't try this at home.
Jim starting off on that same rap
and finishing
The hike out had some gorgeous prickley-pear? in bloom.
more bloomage
And the same fun exit hike that you get to do from Mindbender
and up the paleo-dune field
in the blistering sun
Finally topping out back at camp!
This time we were smart enough to bring a bike. I kept an eye on camp while jim road back to the car.
Camp in all it's glory. There is an impressive drop off behind the car as well.
Naturally, a fire and a 1/2 pound of bison for Jimmy on his birthday (only half a pound jimmy?, you're getting old).
I didn't take any pictures in Alcatraz, supposedly I'll get some from Jim soon, it is a blast. Bang for you buck, it's one of the best canyons out there. This was taken on the drive back home after Alcatraz.
